That Old Lopez Charm
by purrpickle
Summary: It took two months for Santana to seduce Rachel. It wasn't easy, but she'd known from the beginning that it would be worth it. Planning and execution had never been so fun, and the spoils were going to be sweet indeed. Pezberry.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I do not own Glee nor the characters within. My mind apparently has too much time to itself, because ideas keep on coming flying at me. So now I'm working on superhero!Santana, bitchy!Santana, a couple of other!Santanas I've been working on, and now it's devious!Santana's turn. *smile* She's just too much fun to explore. Double entendre, oh my. Anyways, this story starts out in the future/present, then delves into the past/present. I'm sure it'll make sense once you read it.

* * *

Rachel Berry's lips tasted like ice cream and lip gloss.

The dairy-free ice cream the girl had been eating right before might have had something to do with it, along with her ever-present sheen of Berry Blast, but Santana wasn't going to quibble over the particulars. If Rachel's lips tasted like ice cream and lip gloss, then by god they tasted like ice cream and lip gloss. She wasn't going to be like Puck and ruin the moment by commenting on it.

Besides, that would mean she'd have to _stop _tasting Rachel's lips, and she didn't want that. She'd worked too long and hard to get the other girl's mouth under hers, and she was damn well going to enjoy it as long as she could.

And indeed, someone upstairs must have been listening to her because the Ferris Wheel compartment they were in didn't seem to have any plans on moving soon. Or maybe it was the twenty she'd slipped the carnie. Semantics. Either way, she knew she wasn't going to have to pummel him for ripping her off.

It'd taken almost two months of planning to get to where she was now, and since Santana didn't _do _patience, it was almost a fricken' miracle she'd managed to stick to her plan. And it had been a hell of a plan. Pretty genius if she said so herself (which she did).

After first getting past her immediate balking of acknowledging her attraction to _Rachel Berry_of all people, Santana had quickly recruited Brittany and a kicking and screaming Quinn to help her out. She'd pondered using Puck's help, but Quinn had very happily pointed out that that could easily get messy; Santana found it amusing that as adamant as the blonde had been about avoiding Rachel in the beginning, they were now such good friends Santana had actually felt like she needed to threaten Quinn that she better not try to steal Rachel away from her. Though she wasn't quite sure how deep Quinn's feelings went for the brunette, it made her very relieved that Rachel seemed to only want Quinn's friendship.

Brittany, for her part, had just been overjoyed that she was now able to be open about getting to know and hanging out with Rachel, and Santana had a lot to thank her for. Though their friendship had been going through a rough patch at the time, through Santana's pursuit of Rachel, they'd managed to come to terms with each other and the new status of their relationship.

Which brought her back to her plan.

It had started off simply. Arrange a duet with her and Rachel, then make it necessary that they meet away from school. Making that happen had been surprisingly easy.

* * *

Mr. Schue was very fond of the 'splitting the class in half and putting their names in the hat' method of picking duet partners, and, in a moment of brilliance as she saw how the class had been sorted, Santana sent herself and Quinn up with Brittany to demonstrate a new dance move Brittany had invented, 'accidentally' knocking the hat over in the process. Out spilled the pieces of paper, and into the pocket went Rachel's name as the three girls put everything back. One quick slip of hand later, and all Santana now had to do was wait and fake the drawing.

As each member of glee club was called with neither she nor Rachel being drawn, Santana could see Rachel's impatient energy growing, the small girl almost bouncing up and down in her seat. Though her expression had dimmed a little when Finn had called out Artie's name, Santana hoped that was due to how well they sang together and nothing else. Trying to get Rachel to forget about Finnocence was not a hurdle she had wanted to jump.

Finally, it was down to Santana, Rachel, Mike, and Puck; Brittany had been paired with Kurt, and Quinn had only rolled her eyes a bit when she'd been stuck with Tina. Seeing Puck giving Rachel his version of 'come hither' eyes from across the room, Santana growled under her breath, willing Mr. Schue to call her name before someone would have to explain why a piece of paper was missing. She hadn't quite thought ahead far enough for if something like that had happened, having been confident she would have been called much, much earlier.

Again, someone upstairs must have been listening, because lo and behold, Mr. Schue told her to go pick her partner. Santana walked to the piano, rolled her eyes at Puck's leer and wink, and angled herself in such a way no one would be able to see her put her hand into the hat with a piece of paper already tucked into her palm. Then, adopting a disgusted look on her face and putting just the right amount of disdain in her voice, she caught Rachel's gaze and said her name.

Her face falling into an expression of dismay, Rachel's mouth dropped, and it looked like she was seconds away from jumping verbally onto Mr. Schue and making him overturn the results when she did something that surprised Santana. Instead of protesting and making a big deal out of the goings on, she suddenly closed her mouth, gave Santana an appraising once over, and promptly disappeared into whatever place it was where she undoubtedly ran possible songs through her head.

Raising her eyebrow in response, Santana went back to her chair and sat down, a rather pleased smirk stretching over her lips.

And from there, it started. Spending the rest of class gossiping with Quinn and Brittany, barely paying attention to Mr. Schue as he outlined the particular plan for the duets, Santana had enjoyed watching Rachel get more and more fed up with her apparent lack of caring. Knowing just how much disinterest to portray without making the whole plan backfire on itself, Santana made her second move right as the ending bell rang.

When Rachel came up to her, vibrating with righteous displeasure, demanding to know if she was 'serious about this project or not' and going off on something about 'maintaining a perfect GPA', Santana had to cover her amused grin with an annoyed sigh and crossing of her arms. Pinning Rachel in place with a direct stare, she made a caustic remark about not wanting to be seen in public with the little midget (at least _not yet_), smoothly segueing into telling – not asking – Rachel that she'd be by to pick her up after her ballet class the next day.

And that's what she did.

* * *

Knowing Rachel had yet to get her driver's permit, Santana figured that utilizing a car would give her an automatic advantage. Having collected on the favor her older brother owed her by commandeering his sleek red 2006 Toyota MR2 Spyder for the afternoon, she pulled into the parking lot of the dance studio with the top down, checked her makeup in the mirror, and slid smoothly out of the vehicle. Leaning with her hip just below the windshield, back barely brushing against the side view mirror, she crossed her arms, adopted a lazy haughty look, and waited.

Five minutes later, Rachel walked out of the dance studio, and stared.

Santana couldn't blame her – she'd calculated the best way to show herself off earlier that day, after all. Her Cheerios uniform had been replaced with her favorite pair of hip hugger jeans and tight white tank top. Figuring that Rachel would not only be put off kilter by her change of clothes, the fact that Santana had left her hair loose and flowing around her face as well would hopefully force the other girl to view Santana in a different, less school way. No matter the ultimate goal (at least in Rachel's mind) was to talk about their assignment, Santana wanted to achieve some level of separate awareness too.

When Rachel made no move to walk closer, hands clutched around the straps of her backpack and an almost gob smacked expression on her face, Santana smirked inwardly but outwardly rolled her eyes. "Berry!" she snapped out, slipping her designer sunglasses on and straightening, "Get over here already! I don't have all day."

"Santana…" Rachel trailed off as she finally made her way over, opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat, "You certainly look… Personable."

Letting Rachel see her smirk that time, Santana got into the driver's seat and grabbed the other girl's backpack out of her arms. Chucking it into the back and ignoring Rachel's disgruntled protest, she turned the MR2 on, appreciating the sports car hum. "Is that your way of saying I look hot?" she drawled.

Rachel's blush said it all. That made Santana feel particularly good, she could admit.

"So," Rachel spoke up after a couple of minutes, cutting off Santana's idle humming along to the radio. She was seemingly bored with waiting for Santana to explain where they were heading, her gaze watching as the highway flashed past, a hand coming up to smooth windblown hair down. "Would you be so kind as to share where you are taking me?"

Santana studied Rachel out of the corner of her eye, secure in the knowledge that her sunglasses would keep the action secret. After what had probably been a successful ballet session, the small girl had changed into a cute green pullover that had a stylized Scottish terrier on it and a pair of almost criminally short light blue shorts; if anything, she had to give Rachel credit for showing off her killer legs… And Santana was always too happy to look. "Berry," she drew in a breath, dropping her head to look at Rachel over the tops of dark lenses, "Shut up. It's a surprise."

"You know, you _could _pretend to be a decent human being."

Santana snorted. "What's the fun in that? Now, quiet. I love this song." She reached out and spun the dial up.

Shakira's _She Wolf _blasted through the speakers, fighting with the wind.

Rachel stared at her. "I don't even know why you bother," she almost shouted over the music, enunciating each word to make sure she could be heard.

"What?"

"I don't even know why you bother! With the wind and interference - !"

"What?"

"I don't even know why you – !"

"What?" Santana cut her off again, snickering.

Rachel's lips firmed, and she glared at her. As the music wound down and Santana reached forward to change it to a more 'decent' level, she crossed her arms and looked out the front of the windshield. "Look," she started again, sounding annoyed, "I only scheduled two hours at the most for this meeting with you, and ten minutes have already been wasted!"

Santana raised her eyebrows. Spotting the exit she wanted, she signaled, expertly pulling off. "Then you shouldn't have 'scheduled' anything, now should you?" she offered, "Or at least talked to me about it – who said I'd want to share two hours with _you_?" Rachel made it _way _too easy to throw her words back at her.

"I would have but I don't have your number and you wouldn't talk to me after class!"

It pleased her that it had been Rachel who brought up having each other's phone numbers. "Okay," she nodded, looking at the other brunette and quirking the corners of her lips up, "When we've stopped, I'll _allow_ you the privilege of having my number."

What sounded like a muttered, "How kind of you," came from Rachel, but she nodded anyway.

Deciding not to call her on her sarcasm, Santana asked casually, "What else do you have planned for tonight?"

"What?"

"Tonight. You said you scheduled two hours with me. What else do you have?"

"Oh." Rachel shifted in her seat, playing with the sleeves of her pullover. Santana figured she was surprised at her curiosity, and she mentally told the other girl to get used to it. "Well, at eight, I prepared a medley of the current most popular Broadway hits to practice. At nine, I was planning on looking over the current ideas for Regionals, and then be in bed by nine thirty."

Santana smirked. "Berry, do you do that every night?"

Rachel looked at her. "No, not _every _night, but I find it prudent to be prepared."

"I see." Answering dryly, Santana decided that her original plan was going to be scrapped. Driving past the shopping plaza that she had been heading towards, she instead took a side street and drove another two blocks. Parking in front of a popular national chain of grocery store that she knew for a fact offered vegan options, Santana smiled broadly at Rachel and jumped out. "Last one in's a short diva," she called out behind her, grinning at the sharp complaint aimed at her back and the sound of Rachel scrambling to grab her backpack.

Catching up to her within the double doors, Rachel stared at the interior of the grocery store with wide eyes. "…I'm not sure I understand the reasons for this stop." Her brown eyes met Santana's, "Do you have to pick up groceries for your house?"

Santana rolled her eyes, finishing folding her sunglasses and attached them to the collar of her shirt, "Really, Berry, don't be stupid. C'mon." She bent down and picked up a shopping basket. "Now, what'cha hungry for?"

When Rachel didn't respond, Santana turned back around. "Berry!" she barked, raising an eyebrow, "Was I speaking to myself? What are you hungry for?" Even if the small girl had eaten a snack after her ballet class, Santana knew from experience that it was quite easy to get hungry again an hour or more after doing physically tough exercise (and ballet certainly counted – Santana found herself wondering what Rachel looked like in her leotard and tutu, then had to deal with the fact that image made her both go 'aww, too cute' and 'skin tight, mmm…').

Taking in Rachel's puzzled smile, Santana motioned with her head for her to take the lead. The new plan she had thought of would _definitely _give her mega bonus points, and she wanted to get on with it.

"Santana…?"

"Yes?"

Rachel looked like she was searching for what to say. Deciding to let her find the words for once, Santana amused herself by walking over to the fruits and reaching over and grabbing an apple, pausing, then grabbing another as well. Tucking them into the shopping basket, she turned back at a soft touch to her elbow.

"Santana," Rachel looked confused, her eyebrows almost coming together; Santana studied her cloudy brown eyes, aware of how close the other girl had stepped, "I'm… I'm afraid to say that I am very confused right now."

Crossing her arms casually, Santana tilted her head, "Of what?"

In went Rachel's lower lip into her mouth, and Santana narrowed her eyes. Rachel had _no _idea how devastatingly sexy that habit was. Not only were Rachel's lips incredibly plump and pouty, but her teeth were strong, and her mouth probably very warm. Brittany had told her Rachel'd been one of the better kissers of McKinley High, making up for lack of practice with hesitant enthusiasm. If Santana had her way, she'd have Rachel's mouth opening under hers sooner rather than later. Ooh, and that hot body under her hands. Those sexy legs twining with hers. Long hair gripped tightly in her fist as she gasped and moaned against her…

Santana came back to find Rachel chattering nervously at her. Making out bits and pieces, she decided to cut off the other girl before things got ridiculous. "Hold on, Berry," she raised her hand, stopping the verbal flow.

Rachel shut her mouth with an almost audible click.

"Okay." Dropping the shopping basket to press against her upper leg, Santana leaned most of her weight onto her back foot, "You're all 'blah blah, why, Santana, why?'" Ignoring Rachel's frown, she continued, "Well, look around you! This… Is a _grocery store_. Where people buy… _Groceries_. Since I, for one, do not want to starve, I'm planning on buying some food to eat later. I suggest you find some for yourself before I pay and get the hell out of here. And yes, I'm still not telling you what we're going to do later. You're just going to have to get used to not being in control."

Rachel's automatic snarky response was cut off when the small girl blinked and watched her grab a bag of carrot sticks, followed by two bottles of water.

Santana shot her an amused look. It was fun keeping the normally uber-prepared and high-strung girl off balance. Hopefully she could keep her off balance long enough that Rachel didn't even realize it when she succumbed to Santana's seduction. Oh, it wouldn't be easy, but it would be _so _worth it in the end, she just knew. With someone so obsessed with every detail, she just _had _to be a tiger in bed.

Finally – _finally_ – Rachel seemed to get it and started picking out her own food, prattling all the while about the vegan lifestyle and comparing the nutritional value of everything. Though she found it slightly interesting to listen to, Santana still refused to put back the packet of Ho Hos she'd picked up. "It's _my _body and _my _stomach, and as long as Coach doesn't know, it's _fine_." ('Sides, she knew one Cheerios practice would burn off all the extra calories.)

Once back in the car, food paid for, buckled up, and Santana evilly smirking to herself, she mentally patted herself on the back. Rachel had _no _idea just what she had in store for her. Looking over to where Rachel had pulled out her iPod and attached a radio frequency device to it so she could play it over the stereo, adamant that regardless if she _still _didn't know what Santana was planning, they could get a start on discussing the song for their duet, Santana let herself drink in the other girl's body again.

Yeah, this whole thing was worth it.

Sliding her sunglasses on, Santana started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot. Time to up the Lopez charm.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **In my universe, Cheerio jackets have last names sewn onto their backs. Just so you know.

* * *

Rachel's eyes seemed to grow wider and wider the farther away from Lima they drove. Her lower lip had a new home in her mouth, and Santana was afraid she'd strain her eyeballs at the rate she kept on looking back and forth between Santana and the stretch of road out of the windshield. It made her incredibly happy that she had Rachel exactly where she wanted her. She'd even managed to convince the other girl that they could wait to listen to songs until they'd stopped driving; she liked that radio station.

Though the sun hadn't started slipping below the horizon yet, Santana could feel the temperature dipping a bit, made especially more noticeable because of the wind whipping past. Because her natural physiology afforded her a warmer than normal body temperature, it didn't bother her. However, she could see Rachel wasn't feeling the same. Taking in her small shifts and movements, as well as the beginnings of goose bumps on her arms, Santana spoke up, "Berry."

"What?"

"Do you have a jacket?"

"No, I do not." Smoothing down her shorts, Rachel shook her head.

Santana raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" she asked, shooting Rachel a pointed look. "Aren't you, like, always prepared?"

That gained her another disgruntled expression in her direction. "Since I hadn't anticipated being outside or in a car where the top could be lowered, I didn't think one would be needed. Besides, I didn't have enough room in my backpack, due to all of my school books needed for this weekend."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Why can't you answer in three words or less? You'd probably save the ozone layer all by yourself."

"That's ridiculous, Santana."

"Is it? Tell me, Berry," Santana smirked at her, "What's the longest you've gone without speaking? Heck, I bet you even talk in your sleep." She certainly wouldn't mind finding out.

Rachel crossed her arms. "I'm not going to answer that," she said primly, pointedly looking outside.

"Aww, you're no fun."

"I'm sorry you find me bereft of entertainment."

Santana grinned at Rachel's tone. She looked over and quirked her eyebrows at her, "Now, I didn't say that, did I?"

"It… It was implied!" Rachel threw back, "As well as you have said the equivalent of such on many different occasions."

Hmm. That was true. Frowning, Santana peered at the mile marker sign that was coming up fast. Yup, that was the correct one. "Well, Berry," she started, slowing down and putting her blinker on, "Here's your chance to start changing that opinion." Pulling onto a slightly hidden dirt road, Santana smiled devilishly at Rachel's, "Where _are _we going?"

About a hundred yards in, right before the tree line of one of the forested parts of the outskirts of Lima, Ohio, Santana parked near the back of a turnaround. Jumping out of the car, she pulled her Cheerios bag out from behind her seat, rifled through it, then threw her Cheerios sweatshirt at Rachel. "Alright, c'mon, slowpoke! It's a bit of a hike, but we should make it in time. If you start moving."

"Wha – but – Santana! How are we going to be able to work on a duet out _here_? I don't see how it could be done, quite frankly, as we don't have the nurturing environment that would be best suited for exploring harmonies and songs themselves. The ambient sound of nature itself would be a deterrent for the simplest of songs!"

Sighing heavily, Santana turned to Rachel, who was stubbornly staying put in the passenger seat, arms crossed and chin jutting out. She pulled out a headphone splitter as well as two pairs of DJ-worthy headphones.

Mouth dropping, it took Rachel a couple of seconds to think up another protest, "But what about the time and the beckoning dusk? I will _not _walk around in nature where there is the threat of danger!"

Silently, Santana held up two heavy duty flashlights and a first aid/survival kit.

"While it's admirable that you have those with you, I only have until seven o'clock until I have to be home, and I will _not _be late – "

"Jesus, Berry, I'll make sure you'll be back when you want to be." Santana patted herself on the back for how open-ended that statement was. If she had her way, Rachel wouldn't notice or mind staying out later.

"Well, what if we get lost?"

Santana rolled her eyes, glad she had planned ahead for everything Rachel could have thought up no matter what they had ended up doing, and pulled out her phone. "I have GPS, as well as I _know _where we're going. It's like the back of my hand! Seriously, Berry, man up and fricken' stop raining on the parade! Where's your sense of adventure?"

Not waiting for the response, she grabbed the food they had picked up earlier and put it into her Cheerios bag as well. Shouldering it, she went to the front seat and leaned over the door to see if she was forgetting anything. "Oh, wallet might be good," she muttered and slipped it into her back pocket. If something _did _happen to them, it would be nice if her I.D. could be used to identify her body.

Grinning at the morbid thoughts and toying with the idea of mentioning it to Rachel to see her reaction, she looked over to where the other girl had finally gotten out of the car. Currently in the process of shrugging into Santana's sweatshirt, Santana couldn't help but stare. Her sweatshirt almost swamped the smaller girl, which might have been funny in any other situation, but Santana found that laughing was the farthest thing from her mind. In a primal way, Rachel wearing Santana's sweatshirt made Rachel _hers_. She could only imagine what Rachel would look like in her Cheerios jacket with _Lopez _stitched on the back. Swallowing back the sudden surge of arousal that spiked through her, she coughed loudly. "You, uh, ready to go already?"

Looking down at herself, holding out her arms and studying just how low the sweatshirt hung on her, almost coming to mid-thigh but still leaving a long expanse of leg showing, Rachel asked thoughtfully, "Should I be concerned about poison ivy? There are two other related species, you know, and I do not wish to come into contact with any of them."

Santana stared at her, then started chuckling. "I'll take that as you're ready to go." Walking over and grabbing the notebook and pen, as well as iPod that she almost had to wrench out of Rachel's hands, she stuffed them into her bag, and leaned in to push the button to raise the roof of the MR2 – no sense in tempting fate with trees and birds and who knows what else around.

As soon as she locked it, Rachel popped up next to her. "Alright, Santana," she started, "I am laying my life in your hands – against my better judgment, I might add – and I trust that you are going to get me wherever it is that you are taking me and back safely. While I do not understand, exactly, what you are doing – or why, frankly, you have decided to share whatever this is with _me_ – I do have to admit I am curious.

"However, I do feel I have to preface that statement with the fact that if you did not seem as interested in actually preparing for our duet as you are, I wouldn't be agreeing to this."

"Nice to know, Berry. Now shut up and follow me."

* * *

The walk wasn't too strenuous. Knowing Rachel would have no trouble keeping up, Santana didn't hold back with the pace she used. It usually only took about fifteen minutes to make it to where she was heading, but with Rachel's rambling monologue and incessant questions, as well as stopping outright for five minutes so the small girl could call her fathers to tell them _exactly_ what she was up to and where she was (well, as much as Santana would tell her, supplying the GPS coordinates "…so fricken' A, Berry, it doesn't sound like I'm _kidnapping _you"), it ended up taking about twenty minutes. By that time, Rachel was nervously glancing at her watch and Santana was scanning the sky above.

As the trees thinned and the path leveled out, Santana grinned and grabbed Rachel's wrist. "C'mon! We're here." Happy that no cars at the parking spot meant no one at the overlook, she pulled a blinking Rachel into the suddenly direct sunlight.

Not many people knew about this certain overlook of one of Lima's outlying reservoirs, and Santana wouldn't have known about it if her older brother hadn't introduced it to her four years ago before she got, in his words, "Insufferable," and he stopped hanging out with her. One of Santana's favorite places in the world, it just so happened to have a perfect view of the sunset.

Which was going to start in ten minutes. Plopping her Cheerios bag onto the lone bench that sat near the cliff, she began to arrange everything in it to two piles on both ends. Food and flashlights and just-in-case-it-was-needed-and-it-would-only-be-perverts-who-would-think-she-had-any-ulterior-motives blanket on one side, Rachel's notebook and iPod and Santana's headphones and equipment on the other. She left enough space in the middle for her and Rachel to sit comfortably. "Well, Berry?" she twisted a little to see where Rachel had gone since she'd let her go, "Whaddya think?"

"Santana…" Rachel was standing near the edge of the forest, staring at the expanse of water and sky that stretched out in front of them. Her hands were playing with the hem of Santana's sweatshirt, and she looked like a little kid being presented with a newborn sibling for the first time; drinking her in, Santana knew she'd done well.

Rachel's eyes were large and doe-like, her mouth slightly crooked as she met Santana's gaze, "What… What is this?"

Giving Rachel one of the few sincere smiles she'd ever given her, Santana patted the seat next to her, "C'mon, join me. Let's eat before the light show starts."

Walking forward hesitantly, Rachel stood before Santana's seated figure and accepted the water bottle Santana handed her. Taking a sip of her own bottle, Santana waited patiently for Rachel to gather her bearings. She didn't mind. The other girl was placed just perfectly that her body was highlighted nicely, as well as she blocked the piercing light from the sun that seemed to have great pleasure in hovering at eye level. So, two bonuses.

A stray gust of wind suddenly blew up from behind her, and Santana shivered at the chill it left on her bare arms. Before she could reach over for the blanket, Rachel noticed. "Oh! It hasn't been fair of me to keep your sweatshirt for so long, and I'm sure you'll want it back soon. Here, let me…"

Santana shook her head, putting a hand out to press against the closest of Rachel's arms, lowering it from its partial disrobing. "Chill. It's cool. I brought a blanket. Besides, I have a normally higher temperature, okay?" Besides, she didn't want Rachel to take off that sweatshirt anytime soon.

Still looking unsure, Rachel nodded, then finally sat down. Though she left about three inches between them – Santana noticed it was the most she could without shoving anything off the bench nor appearing highly awkward – Santana still saw it as a small victory. She made sure to purposefully brush her fingers over Rachel's as she accepted the blanket she passed her. The blush that caused made Santana smirk, but she pushed it away, laid the blanket around her lap and upper chest, and asked for the carrot sticks.

Two minutes later, Rachel gasped.

The sky had been darkening considerably in the last few moments, the sound of nature (mostly crickets with a few bird calls) had picked up, and with a burst of bright orange, sunset had begun.

Washes of red and purple rippled across the sky, orange weaving in and out while pulling pink behind it. It was one of the best sunsets Santana had seen in a while, and she took that as a sign that the person above who seemed to be watching her closely heartily approved. She smiled. Uber mega points must surely be tallied in her column, and she could _not _wait to get the jackpot.

Letting her mind wander even as the colors spread out above, she started making a mental checklist of what she had accomplished so far. She'd managed to keep Rachel off balance throughout the whole outing, she hadn't used any hurtful nicknames, she'd bought her dinner – and made it a 'romantic picnic' to boot, complete with a beautiful sunset that she was sure Rachel was going all swoony over. Averting her gaze to take in the look of awe Rachel wore, Santana smirked. Oh yeah. She was _good_.

Turning her head to the sunset, Santana looked back over at Rachel when she felt something brush softly against her elbow. Noticing that Rachel was shivering a bit, Santana leaned forward and peered through the darkness to see that the small girl was rubbing her hands up and down her thighs and knees. She unwound the blanket from around herself, rotated it 90 degrees, and then plopped the now free bottom onto Rachel's lap. Warm enough with her shoulders down to the tip of her knees covered, Santana nodded and told Rachel so when the girl looked up at her uncomprehendingly.

"Oh… Okay, thank you." Tucking the blanket around herself after drawing her legs up, Rachel paused, searched Santana's face, then shifted minutely closer so the blanket could cover more of her. Even though Rachel was sitting as stiffly as she could, making sure to keep their bodies from touching, Santana knew a shiny gold one had been added under her name in her mental tally.

Of course, she had no way of knowing, but in the next couple of days she would manage to lose almost all of the shiny gold numbers she'd earned.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I have _finally _figured out the best way for me to write. Shorter updates, shorter time between them. Instead of waiting for a 'respectable' amount of words to be written per chapter, now I post when _I _feel done. This has really revolutionized my whole writing process, and I feel like I'm, if you forgive me, 'flourishing'. *grins* I've been doing _so much_ writing recently and I _love _it! *dances happily*

* * *

Santana strutted into McKinley High with extra arrogance on Monday morning, knowing that that day would be a good day. She'd heard some great rumors over the weekend that, if handled correctly, would only cement her standing as the Head Bitch in Charge, as well as the day before had been spent scheming with Brittany and Quinn on how to enact the second phase of their plan. She was still highly pleased at how well the first phase had gone.

Slushie-ing the first freshman she saw, laughing as she saw him dissolve into tears and race for the nearest bathroom, she threw the empty cup away and made her way to her locker. Spotting Quinn and Brittany already waiting for her, she bumped Quinn's shoulder and playfully tugged on Brittany's ponytail.

"S!" Brittany smiled, "Have you seen Rachel yet?"

"Ugh. _Thank _you." Grumbling, Quinn elbowed Santana, glaring at her before going back to applying some clear lip gloss. It was only because she'd caught sight of Santana coming up behind her in the mirror she'd hung up in her locker door that she didn't now have vanilla sugar all over her cheek.

Smirking back at Quinn, Santana opened her own locker. "Nope, not yet, B. But don't worry, I gots it under control."

"Okay, wait. Just, wait." Fluffing out her ponytail, Quinn shut her locker with a bang and looked straight at Santana. "I know we've talked about this before – and goodness knows _all _day yesterday," she rolled her eyes, "But do you _truly _know the social _suicide _you're committing here?"

Santana paused the application of her mascara. "You got something to say, Q?" she started warningly.

"I do." Quinn crossed her arms, hazel eyes narrowing. "This is _Rachel Berry _we're talking about. The absolute _bottom _of the McKinley High popularity ladder!"

"But she's nice. A little scary, sometimes, but nice," Brittany interjected, smiling supportively at Santana.

Shooting her a quick smile in thanks, Santana closed her locker and took a step towards Quinn, eyes narrowing, "Like you have a platform to stand on, _baby momma_. Shut your mouth."

Red crept up Quinn's face, and she took a deep breath. "Believe it or not," she stated tightly, "Maybe I'm saying this for _your _benefit."

"Yeah, like I believe that." Santana snorted. "Who rules this school, Q? _Who_? The sheeple? Don't make me laugh." Placing her hands on her hips, Santana smirked, arching her eyebrows. "We do. And _nothing _can take that away from us. Hell, we're in _glee club _and we're still top bitches." Taking another step forward and entering Quinn's space, she lowered her voice, "No, something tells me this isn't about _me _at all, is it, Quinnie?"

Looking down, grinding her teeth for a couple of beats, Quinn raised her head and glared at Santana. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uhm… I don't either…" Brittany trailed off.

Santana reached out and squeezed Brittany's hand, sliding her fingers down so their pinkies linked together. "It's all right, B," she smirked pointedly at Quinn for a second longer and then stepped back, "I'll explain later."

"Thank you. Hey, there's Rachel!" Dropping Santana's pinky, Brittany skipped off in the direction of the front doors. Keeping her gaze locked with Quinn until the blonde looked away when Sam came up to collect her, Santana counted that as a win. Throwing the blonde one last taunting quirk of her lips, she turned to join Rachel and Brittany at Rachel's locker.

Having to stop to throw a jock's slushie back into his own face as she saw him heading towards the two girls, she smoothly slid herself behind Rachel. "Berry," she enjoyed the surprised snapping up of the other girl's head, "You're looking less atrocious today." She drank in the tight white dress that fell to mid-calf, a light gray short sweater tied around her shoulders. Could've been better, but it magnificently highlighted her thin waist so it wasn't a _total_ waste.

Rachel flushed, and she barely paused arranging her locker to shoot Santana a mild irate look, "I'll take that as the veiled compliment it was, thank you."

Santana grinned. Of course she would.

"Hey, Rache," Brittany butt in, clasping her hands behind her back, "S was telling me about the song you wanna do for, uhm… The duos? And I wanted to know if you needed help with the choreography."

A wave of pure shock washed over Rachel's face, and it looked like a smile she didn't know if she should have was pushing at her lips. When she glanced over at Santana, Santana just quirked her eyebrows. It was Brittany's show, not hers.

Brittany started talking again. "I mean, I know I'm more talented than you," Santana clamped down on the snickers that threatened to come out at the falling of Rachel's face, "When it comes to dancing, but you're one of the other best singers I know, aside from myself. And Kurt said that if I didn't perform like an admiral, he'd never forgive me. And since he's gay, I know he wouldn't. I was hoping you would tell him I don't need to be an admiral. I'm just me."

Rachel frowned. Shutting her locker door, she turned to face Brittany fully, "What song are you two doing?"

"Uh…" As her best friend tried to remember the name of the song, Santana rolled her eyes. Taking out her phone, she quickly texted Kurt. _Yo, Gaymo. The song you n' B r doing._

Thirty seconds later, Kurt responded back. _Hello, 'Bimo'. My Heart Will Go On, by the delectable Ms. Dion._

Santana frowned. That wasn't a duet! And what the hell was with the Bimo? _Porcelain_ needed someone to put him in his place. Leaving that for later, she pushed her phone in front of Brittany's face.

"Oh! San, how does your phone know?"

"It's not my phone, B. It's Kurt. I texted him."

"Oh, yeah. You know, I think my cat has started texting out my secrets." Frowning, Brittany looked down, only looking up when Santana turned to Rachel and told her what Kurt had said – _minus_ the Bimo, of course – and the smaller girl made a noise of consternation.

Echoing Santana's thought that My Heart Will Go On wasn't a duet, Rachel crossed her arms. "That won't do," she frowned, "Brittany, do _you _really want to do that song?"

Brittany furrowed her brow. "Well, not really…" she trailed off, "But Kurt wouldn't listen to the fact that I'm the best singer in glee. He didn't even listen to the song I wanted to do." The tall girl's shoulders slumped, and she pouted.

Santana scowled. Brittany hadn't told her this. Kurt _really _needed someone to put him in his place, now! Reaching out and running her hand down Brittany's arm supportively, she asked, "What song did you want to do, B?"

The girl brightened. "I See the Light, from Tangled."

"Oh, wow." Rachel blinked, and she smiled in pleased surprise, "That could be really interesting." Pausing, she suddenly nodded resolutely, "Alright. Santana and I will talk to him. We'll get you to have a _real _duet, even if it isn't that exact one, okay?"

A wide smile split Santana's face, and she barely reined it in before Rachel saw it. The fact that she had automatically included her in her plan instead of shunting it off on _just _Santana or _just _herself, told her that even just one evening hanging out with her had improved her standings with the other girl. "You're damn right it is," she cut in, "There's no way in _hell_ I'm letting Kurt push you to the background, B."

Looking back and forth between her and Rachel, Brittany suddenly grabbed both of them into a group hug, "You guys are so _nice_!" and Santana could feel Rachel's side press against hers. _Man_, she was small. Still, that brief contact, as her hand brushed against Rachel's hip, was enough to make her even more determined to make Rachel hers.

But first, when Brittany let them go and Rachel's eyes sparkled with bashful happiness, Santana mentally cracked her knuckles. _No one _got away with keeping Brittany down.


End file.
